November not only brings freezing winds and cascades of autumn-hued leaves, it also marks the last weeks of the season for the Case Western Reserve University cross country teams that have braved all sorts of weather and courses the past semester.
For many of the runners, their outdoor cross country season concluded this past weekend with the NCAA Great Lakes Regional where the men’s team placed fourth (137 points) and the women’s team placed ninth (246 points) out of a total of 39 teams.
The Spartans were back in Blue River Memorial Park in Shelbyville, Indiana, after previously running the course earlier this season at the Grizzly Invitational.
The race saw many great performances from the team, with all seven runners on the women’s team seeing improved times from the Grizzly Invitational. The third-years dominated with Lauren Iagnemma (21:49.55), Ashley Novak (22:24.76), Arianna Holbrook (23:35.30) and Julia Hluck (23:55.05) all contributing to the team’s ninth-place finish. First-year Becca Liaw rounded out the top five Spartan finishes with a time of 24:06.6. Iagnemma finished fourth overall out of 270 runners and earned All-Region acclaim for her second consecutive season. Novak also received such honors with her 15th-place finish, as the honors are given to the first 35 who cross the finish line.
On the men’s team, fourth-year Aidan Nathan was the first Spartan to cross the finish line with a time of 24:58.24. Nathan was followed by second-year Jacob Slater (25:40.15) and first-year Donovan Crowley (25:42.76) placing 27th and 30th, respectively. Crowley was also the first first-year to finish the course. With their top 35 finishes, Nathan, Slater and Crowley received All-Region honors. Just outside of the top 35 were a pair of Spartan runners: first-year Adam Esa (25:52.82) and graduate student Stephen Henry (25:53.22) as they placed 36th and 37th, respectively.
Iagnemma and Nathan both qualified as individual qualifiers for the DIII NCAA Championship, which will take place Nov. 23. They will be running the LaVern Gibson Course in Terre Haute, Indiana, hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Many of the cross country runners will be back with the indoor track and field season, beginning with the Spartan Alumni Meet on Dec. 7 in the Veale Convocation, Recreation and Athletics Center.